Hormones, difficulties and a little balance

I haven't blogged, things were going well. I removed cream.  It was boring, nothing to report. Then few days ago I started gagging on fat, not liking steak, not liking any beef I made. Even my staple ground beef caused me to gag. I crave beef jetky, want eggs, salmon, butter, chicken.
After consulting with zc Facebook group zeroing in on health I stopped feeling guilty, bought turkey bacon and started eating what I wanted without guilt. Yesterday I had 2 pimples pop out of the blue. An unpleasant surprise and I also had cravings I think it is probably related to my period. Seems like about a week before it starts. Today I am better. One pimple is annoying, but not as big as previously. I will not touch it. My old marks are almost gone.
I am sticking with zc. It is an interesting experience.

Infection, a little weight loss, and zero carb on

I stopped counting the days I have been on ZC. I don't see myself eating any other way. 

I just love not having any cravings. I eat, I am full for hours. I am not tempted by anything around me. It is just such a blessing. Some added bonuses are: less shopping, less cooking, less recipes, less time spent on food, shelves and fridge uncluttered. Not to mention saving money. 

I love not having ANY acne. I just love it. No more breakouts. 

On a different note, my urine test still shows blood. No bacteria shows in culture. My doctor wants me to see a urologist which I have an appointment with on Thursday. My back is starting to bother me more and more. Looks like I might have kidney infection but will see what urologist says. 

I stepped on the scale today after drinking coffee and water and looks like I am down 0.8 even with drinking. So looks like weight is coming off gradually. I hope to be under 140 soon...

Love Zero Carb, life is simple

I am done with antibiotic. I am finally feeling better and my energy is better. I still don't like getting up in the morning but once I get up my energy is good all day. 

My appetite is decent. I lowered my coffee intake to one caffeinated in the morning after breakfast and one decaf in afternoon after meal. 

I learned to make steak and am learning to make brisket. Got this great book from the library called Great Meat by Dave Kelly and others. Made pretty good rib eye yesterday, even the girls loved it. 

The breakout is over and I didn't have any new ones. My skin is still clearing. I still have small red marks from old breakouts. They are slowly disappearing. 

My food cost seems to be down this month, even without shopping at Costco for meat. If the kids would go off their crap food we could really save some money on grocery bills. All that bread costs a lot of money! 

Zero Carb eating is really simple. I make 2lbs ground beef and it lasts me for 2-3 days. It fills me up for hours and hours. Just amazing. Today I had Salmon baked in butter and 2 sunny side up eggs at 8am. I got hungry only at 3pm. At 3pm I ate some ground beef with my attempt at beef jerky (I.e. Some strips of flank beef) and it is now almost 9 pm and I am not exactly hungry. I did have decaf coffe during afternoon. I sip it for like 2 hours.....

I am not losing any weight so far but I seem steady. I have no cravings at all. I have no hassle with food. I want to eat, no problem. I am not trying to figure out if it is or isn't true hunger, like I used to do before with implementing mindful eating. If I want food or think about it, I eat meat. That's it. 

I am really happy.

Acne, appetite and meat

I am still on antibiotics. Still not feeling energetic. 

I do not have an appetite. I also don't have cravings. I don't particularly have desire to eat meat but I also don't have any desire to eat anything else. Well, maybe whipped cream or tiramisu......

I do not miss veggies or nuts or quest bars. 

I just don't really have interest in food in general. It might be related with the antibiotic and infection. 

I was at friends during weekend and had a little but of soup she made,miso had some tomatoe paste, garbanzo beans, spinach and probably some other plant foods in there. I did not have cravings but I do have a breakout right the next day. It is small and hopefully will go away soon but it is the under skin bulge type, the hormonal one. 

I don't see any other reason for the breakout but the soup. 

I am a little concerned with my lack of interest in food. The meat doesn't taste great to me. I am not really enjoying my food. While it is a relief not to eat for entertainment, staying full for longer time and not having cravings I would still like to enjoy my food and meal. Now I just eat for substance. I also suspect I don't eat quite enough. 

I am not experiencing the wonderful benefits others have experienced on zc. I was hoping for more energy, needing less sleep and weight loss or more precisely dropping one size of clothes. I will keep going at least for 3 months. Need to first heal the infection and be off antibiotics. Also need to figure out how to make meat that tastes good....

Infection seems better, ZC still working out well

It seems like the infection is getting better I am feeling much better since i started the new antibiotics. I have better energy. I didn't have any cheese, just eggs, water and once it twice a day a tbs of HWC with my coffee which I am trying to limit to one in am after breakfast and one decaf in afternoon. 

I was surprised to have a small pimple on my chin a couple days ago. It was above skin, not my typical bump under skin and it was very small. I thought it was reaction to cheese I had the day or two before and perhaps even antibiotics and infection. I didn't do anything with it, no cream or wash and it is almost gone now. The marks from my old ones are almost gone. I can't wait for them to be gone already and for my hair to grow....l

I bought different cuts of steak just to get familiar with tastes and texture. I just sear them in pan with some salt and TJ 21 seasoning and a tiny bit of tallow. I really like the rib eye taste and texture so far. I am not a big fan of meat. I hear all the ZCers talk about what they eat and I am not there, have a very long way to go yet. I am ok with burgers but the ground beef is just not tasting great. I really like sloppy joes but without tomatoes ground beef is just not the same for me. 

I hope that the steaks will make it better for me. 

I like chicken wings but they are not as satisfying as beef. 

There is also the matter of smell in the house. cooking beef leaves a smell in the house and while I don't mind my husband really doesn't like it. 

I hope to figure these things out along the way. 

I am not missing cheese and my food cravings and funky appetite or just wanting something to chew/eat is gone. 

I am suspecting I am not eating enough and will need to somehow to eat more beef. I still have a couple more steak cuts in fridge to try but if I am not excited about them I will just go with rib eyes, burgers and ground beef and probably couple times a week chicken wings as my kids love them. 

I love not being entertained by food anymore. I was at a lunch yesterday and just wasn't tempted by anything since I was still full from my breakfast of eggs and ground beef. 

I took my daughter to a birthday party yesterday, the theme was candy land. The amounts of candy was INSANE!!!!!!!! I just saw a huge buffet of drugs. It is absolutely criminal! Chocolate fountain, various candy, sugar sticks, mousse, Oreos, marshmallows and of course 'healthy fruit' to dip in fountain or just eat plain. I am really torn with this as I don't want to not let my kids have it but I also truly believe it is horrible, addicting and not just plain unhealthy for our body it is horrible for our teeth. I really do not feed them the way I believe they should eat, I cannot do that mainly because my husband is not on board. He will never give up bread. 

I am hoping that if I make meat in a way they like, such as chicken wings they will eat it and be too full for anything else (like rice or pasta). I haven't figured out yet what meat to give them for school lunch. I got Applegate beef hotdogs last week, my 8yr old loved them but my 11yr old didn't like them. Perhaps another brand? I need another alternatives of fatty meat. The lunch turkey I can buy all have sugar and/carrageenan and while I still get it I hate it. 

Will try to tackle it and research the topic. 

I don't think I lost any more weight. Did not step on the scale and am not eager to do so. My clothes are feeling comfortable. I am hoping to drop a clothes size to fit back into my size 4 jeans which are still a bit tight for me. For that to happen I will probably need to be under 140. At least 4-5lbs to drop....but I will not focus on that but rather on healing my body. Need to get rid of the infection first and then let my body heal with meat and water. 

Fiber Menace, back on antibiotics, removing cheese

Heard about this book on FB, Fiber Menace and finally downloaded it on Kindle. Right from the start was shocked! I remember knowing that corn flakes where discovered by accident but I never knew the real origins of Kellogg cereal. 

 http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_Kellogg

I was amazed to learn that the whole Fiber and whole grains trends are based on vegetarianism and conservatism. 

Even Graham cracker have origins is this nonsense.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_cracker

I am still digesting how harmful fiber is for our body. I don't know why most shocking for me is how much damage it does to our teeth and gums, cavities and gingivitis. It totally makes sense since fiber is present in carby food and carbs basically turn into sugar in our body. 

For few months before zc I was living and calculating net carbs hoping to lose weight but with no success at all and with cravings and wanting to eat. All these mathematical calculations.....it is so much easier just eating meat. If I ever do go back to other foods it will just be vegetables and I will never count net carbs! 

I am too scared to have nuts now since I really like not having acne. Having a clear face every day without doing anything is such a blessing! I still wake up every morning and look in the mirror with disbelief. I keep touching my face trying to feel if there is any new breakout forming under the skin (which would always happen and I would try to tackle it with sulfur or tea tree oil before it grows). 

I did urine test on Tuesday but still have some sort of infection. I am taking another round of different antibiotic for 10 days, I am not supposed to have milk with it. I suspect that dairy isn't doing much for me but create cravings and wanted to eliminate it anyway. I don't really need it. Meat is completely satisfying. There is no reason for me to have any cheese, I don't eat it much anyway and it is a snack for me. Plus I really want to drop a size and will never know until I really give meat and water a try.

I am still clinging to my coffe an really want to have HWC once a day but I will give up the cream once I finish the one I just bought and probably will make whip cream for my daughters to finish it faster. 

I will stick to coffee and have it after I eat just to make sure I am not suppressing my appetite. 

I might ditch the coffee in a month.....who knows? 

Zero Carb beyond 30 days

I have been eating meat and drinking water for a month. 

Do i want to go back to eating other things? Not really. 

Has anything changed since my last post a couple of days ago? Not really. 

Well, a little. Yesterday I had cravings. Not cravings for something sweet or starchy but I just wanted to snack. Wasn't exactly hungry but wanted to chew on jerky. I did eat jerky but it also filled me so i didn't eat dinner. The jerky turned out as my lunch and dinner. 
I also had a very bad mood, felt kind of down and irritated as well as tired. 
I believe all these are connected to my upcoming period. 

My face is still clear and the old marks are slowly disappearing. 

My tummy seems to be shrinking. I don't feel the same with other body parts but that's how my body is, tummy is the first to shrink or last to grow while thighs and behind last to shrink and first to grow. 

I finally stepped on the scale this morning and am down 0.2 since last time. i am not really excited about it as at this point I just want to let my body to do it's thing. 

I haven't been trying to lose weight. I just want to be at peace with food. I am tired of the addiction and pre-occupation with food. 
It will take few months for my body to change, the fast changes I was used to from carb/calorie controlled eating will not happen here. The changes from this way of eating feel different. I have a feeling that my body composition is changing. 

I am guessing that in 6 months if i look at before/after photo there will be a difference. A big difference. We shall see......

I have finished the antibiotics and didn't have any severe reaction like some people said on FB, I have been a bit more tired and actually still am. I went to sleep before 10pm last night and was still dragging at 7am. 
I do not have tons of energy. I hope that this will improve with time. 

The other thing that is happening with me is that I am not very excited about my food. I am not particularly enjoying it or the taste. The only 'food' that I do enjoy and like is the beef jerky. I also really like the chicken wings that I make. I do eat beef, ground beef and about once a week hamburger and it really fills me up for a long time but i do not enjoy the taste even though I still put spices in my food. 
I do like my eggs and eat a little bit mozzarella cheese approximately every other day. That is filling for only about 3-4 hours, not as long as meat. I also use about 1tbs HWC in my coffee once a day. 
I have 1 or 2 plain cups of coffee and plenty of water as I still do get thirsty. 

I hope that my taste will change and i will acquire the taste for natural meat and it's texture. Sometimes i just gag on certain bites. Not even sure why? The jerky sometimes has fat in it and i do eat it but i don't like the texture.